It has been a year since we lost 49 of our people in Orlando. We continue to hold the immense emotions of sadness and grief that are still present. We all remember where we were in that moment. We entered Pride season celebrating our existence and lifting up our relationships to one another and to our communities. On the day of June 12th, SONG staff and many of our members were closing out the final day of Gaycation, SONG’s annual summer family reunion. Gaycation has always been a space for our folks to be their authentic selves, to dance, to rejoice, and to build each other up in the summer heat. SONG, as an organization founded and rooted in Southern traditions, knows too well the effect of isolation on our people. We come together to feed and re-energize our spirits to face the world ahead of us. As we closed the space to the heartbreaking news out of Orlando, we took the time to honor the lives of the people we lost and we recognized the importance of grounding and connecting our people in our spaces.

As we create our own self-determined spaces, we are reminded of the risks and fear for our safety. This fear has always been present as queer, transgender and gender nonconforming folks in the South. For decades, we have been attacked from all directions. Our bodies are policed and our are identities pinned as symptoms, both leading to violence thrown upon us. We constantly ask ourselves to dream and scheme for a world free from fear. But what will it take for us to be safe and free? After Pulse, we understood how it is important to equally hold physical and emotional space for each other. We made an intentional choice to not only be moved by grief, but also to be moved by our mandate.

“We are all we have, and we see that when we take care of ourselves.”SONG Co-Director, Roberto Tijerina

We are called to honor those we lost, fight for those coming up after us, and continue to dream for ourselves. In direct response to the Pulse massacre and rooted in SONG’s vision, the Tiger’s Eye Collective formed. Tiger’s Eye Collective is a queer security, cultural and educational project led by Black queer, transgender and gender nonconforming folks. Our vision for abolition includes creating alternatives for policing made by our communities. Today is the official launch of Tiger’s Eye Collective. Join them tonight for an online facilitated discussion on their formation, on safety, and their vision for the South.

A culture of ignorance and hatred conjured by right-wing politicians and legislators has fueled much of the violence against us. Through our long standing relationship with AgitArte, we continue to explore various methods for cultural intervention between our people and the state’s fictional caricatures of our communities. We have a collective responsibility to eliminate money bail and the framework of the prison and criminal legal system. We are called to the work of ensuring that our communities are free of prisons, policing, inhumane treatment by ICE and state-sanctioned violence. As we are tied to the spaces that bring us joy, we also have to be committed to eliminating spaces that confine, isolate and abuse our people. This year has pushed us to control the spaces we create, but also attempt to change our surrounding spaces for our survival. While many have used this horrific attack to call for heavier policing and to leverage their anti-LGBTQ, anti-Black and anti-immigrant agenda, we still understand a world without policing, ICE, detention centers and cages to be true and possible.

On this day, we honor and hold those we lost in our hearts and memory. We also remember that we cannot operate from a place of fear but from a place of resistance. As we hold each other today and the days to come, we continue to accept the mandate of our people, venture down the pathway laid by our ancestors, dream and conceive the world we want to live in.